Sandra Crawshaw

Sandra Crawshaw

Biography for Sandra Crawshaw, Pianist

Sandra Crawshaw is well-known in Dunedin both as a pianist and violinist. She was born in the Waikato, then moved to Auckland to study piano performance. During this time she won several National awards for piano, but still managed to play violin in orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia. She won an Associated Board Scholarship to study at The Royal College of Music in London for 3 years, winning several prizes during her time, including the Hopkinson Gold Medal for piano.

Too many years ago she returned to NZ and and been making music and raising a family here in Dunedin. In 2011 she was awarded a short-term Residency and Scholarship to the Banff Centre in Canada where she performed, recorded and lectured about Piano Music of Women Composers.

In September of 2012 Sandra has been invited to perform at Government House in Wellington at a special Gala Concert hosted by the Governor General and the Royal Overseas League as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations.

Matthew Wilson

Matthew Wilson

Biography for Matthew Wilson, Tenor

Matthew Wilson was born in Whakatane, Bay of Plenty, and started his musical education at the age of five with piano lessons. Whilst attending Palmerston North Boys’ High School he developed a love of choral singing and joined the OK Chorale under the direction of Graeme Young.

Matthew started singing lessons at the age of 16, which gave him the confidence to audition for the Performance Voice programme at the University of Otago.

During 2012 he was a member of both the National Youth Choir of New Zealand and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain in London, sang the role of Don Curzio in Opera Otago’s production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and the role of The Defendant in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury for The Really Authentic Gilbert and Sullivan Performance Trust. Matthew will complete his Bachelor of Music at the end of 2012, and plans to study Speech and Language Therapy in Auckland or Christchurch the following year.

John van Buskirk

John van Buskirk

Biography for John van Buskirk, Pianist

John Van Buskirk, a versatile pianist referred to by the New York Times as “sensitive and assertive”, has a broad experience of music as an academic and as a practical discipline. He has played from Los Angeles and New York to Budapest, Prince Edward Island and the Netherland Antilles as a recitalist, chamber music player and recital partner to singers and instrumentalists.

A graduate from the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School, he completed post-graduate study at the Liszt Academy in Budapest. He has performed in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall; also for radio broadcast in the USA and the UK.

John’s prolific recordings include those made as a member of The New York Chamber Symphony and the Harmonie Ensemble, amongst others. His solo recordings include Music of Robert Schumann, The Art of the Fortepiano, and Songs of Robert Schumann, with Jane Bryden, plus a recording of Allen Shawn’s Messages (Albany CD).

Since relocating to New Zealand, John has adjudicated several IRMT competitions, lectured and tutored at the University of Otago and served as an examiner for the New Zealand Music Examinations Board. He performs with violinist Tessa Petersen as the duo La Belle Alliance. This duo will be giving concerts in Brussels, London and Paris during September, playing programmes of Schubert, Bach and works by Mozart Fellows recorded on their recent CD, “RELEASE” (Ode Records).

Emma Fraser

Emma Fraser

Biography for Emma Fraser, Soprano

Emma Fraser completed a Bachelor and Post-Graduate Diploma in Music and a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) at the University of Otago. In 2005 she took up a two-year Emerging Performer Scholarship with the Australian Opera Studio in Perth, graduating with Honours. After relocating to London in 2007, Emma attended a two-week opera school in Tuscany and performed in festivals in Italy, France and the UK.

Her operatic repertoire includes title roles in Manon (Massenet) and Rodelinda (Handel); Sandrina, La Finta Giardiniera (Mozart); Gilda, Rigoletto (Verdi); Despina, Così fan tutte (Mozart); Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos (R. Strauss); Olympia, Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach); Pamina, Die Zauberflöte (Mozart) Frasquita, Carmen (Bizet) and Susanna, The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart).

Emma was winner of the North Shore Becroft Aria Contest (2004), the Otago Daily Times Aria Contest (2003), the Christchurch Dame Malvina Major Aria Contest (2003) and runner-up in the Wellington Aria Contest (2003). She was a semi-finalist in the Mobil Song Quest (2002), finalist in The Dame Sister Mary Leo Scholarship (2003) and in 2007, achieved third place in New Zealand’s most internationally recognised singing competition, the Lexus Song Quest.

Other performances include soprano soloist for Handel’s Messiah (City of Dunedin Choir), and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (West Australian Ballet) and soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (Vector Wellington Orchestra). In 2011, Emma was named an NBR New Zealand Opera 2011/2012 PwC Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artist.